Chapter 05 Philosophy of Physical Activity

5

Philosophy of Physical Activity

Scott Kretchmar and Cesar R. Torres

C H A P T E R

Power of Reflection

• Allows for a broader range of phenomena to be studied (as compared to areas limited to testing, measuring, or examining physical objects).

• Forces us to examine our own beliefs in greater depth and to develop well-reasoned arguments for them.

• Helps us become more open-minded: We entertain, examine, and possibly accept ideas, theories, and positions we may previously have ignored or discarded without good reason.

Goals of Philosophy of Physical Activity in Kinesiology

1. To understand the nature and value of health and physical activity, particularly in the form of exercise, sport, games, play, and dance

2. To understand how confident we can be about our claims in kinesiology

3. To learn how we ought to behave in sport and in our professional lives as kinesiolgists

History of Philosophy of Physical Activity

• Beginnings: 1960s

Early scholars: Metheny and Slusher

• Organizations and the subdisciplines: 1970s

Formation of the Philosophic Society for the Study of Sport (PSSS), now the International Association for the Philosophy of Sport (IAPS)

• Expanding the subdiscipline: 2000 to present

– Renewed interest in the subdiscipline, particularly with focus on interdisciplinary research

– Groups worldwide are increasing involvement; no longer limited to North America

Research Methods

• Inductive reasoning begins with specific cases to develop broad, general principles.

• Deductive reasoning begins with broad factual or hypothetical premises in order to determine more specific conclusions that follow from them.

• Descriptive reasoning begins with one example of some phenomenon and then varies it to see how dramatically it changes. Change (or its absence) allows a more accurate description of the central characteristics of the item being examined.

Overview of Knowledge in the Philosophy of Physical Activity

• Nature of the person (specifically, the mind–body relationship)

• Nature of sport and competition and its relationships to work and play

• Values promoted by physical activity

• Ethical values and sport

The Person Problem(Ways to Understand the Mind and Body)

• Materialism

The human being is nothing more than a complex machine; subjective experiences are real but have no power.

• Dualism

The mind and body are separate; our thoughts count; priority is given to the mind.

• Holism

The mind and body are interdependent; all behavior is ambiguous; the mind and body work together.

Significance of Rules

• Rules serve as formal types of game cues: What should be accomplished and how should we accomplish it?

• Rules create a problem that is artificial yet intelligible.

• Respecting the rules preserves sport.

• Rules liberate us and allow us to explore our capabilities in a protected environment.

• Rules can be changed when the challenge becomes too easy or too difficult.

Significance of Skills

• The rulebook of each sport indicates the set of motor skills that the game is designed to test.

Specific motor skills for each sport develop out of the relationship between the goal of the game and the means allowed and prohibited to pursue it (the rules).

• A set of motor skills provides each sport with idiosyncratic characteristics that make it unique.

• Motor skills represent the standards of excellence by which players evaluate their performance.

Significance of Competition

Competition does the following:

• Determines winners and losers (how well one person or team achieves the goals of the game)

• Compares opponents by requiring two parties to commit to the “same test” to determine athletic superiority

• Values excellent play. The process of competing in the game is valued as much as the outcomes that result from the play.

• Can be organized both competitively and noncompetitively

Games and Sport

• Games are artificial problems.

– Games are created by a set of rules that specify a goal to be achieved and limit the means that participants can use to reach the goal.

– Rules exist for the sole purpose of creating the game; they would be absurd in ordinary life.

• Sport is a game in which motor skills are required to reach a goal.

Play and Duty in Sport

• Sport is a goal-oriented activity in which we accept rules.

• Sport may be encountered as a chore or as play. – Dutylike– Playlike

Dutylike Sport

• Sport participation is justified by the beneficial effects of the sport (utility).

• Sport is viewed as something that we must do because of what it does for us.

• Examples of these effects include improving our health, teaching civic values, fostering national pride, and combating sedentary living and obesity.

Playlike Sport

• Sport participation is justified by its intrinsic value.

Sport is associated with an autotelic attitude that is in contrast to all forms of instrumental or utilitarian orientations toward the world.

• Play is focused on what we are doing for its own sake and nothing more.

Even if extrinsic rewards and goals were the initial impetus for participation, a shift toward the intrinsic value of participation produces a play-like focus.

Two Potent Combinations

• The combination of physical activity (sport) and play is a powerful incentive to get us moving.

• Physical activity (sport) and play PLUS competition can be even more powerful to get us moving.

Values Promoted by the Field of Physical Activity

• Health-related physical fitness• Knowledge about the human body, physical

activity, and health practices• Motor skill• Activity is related to pleasure or fun.

(continued)

Ethics

– Ask what is right and wrong, and what ought and ought not be done

– Helps us to answer the question “How should we behave?”

Sport Ethics

– Formulating defensible standards of behavior

– Impartial, consistent, and critical

– Follows a universal moral point of view

• No one counts more than anyone else (players, fans, coaches, and so on).

• Rule bending or intentional harm to an opponent is not justifiable.

Basic Behavioral Guidelines for Sport

• Follow the rules of the sport.– The rules are the foundations of the artificial problem

you find special. – Cheating alters and destroys the sport and vitiates

the legitimacy of results.• Respect your opponent.

– Your opponent is a partner who shares your interests and passion.

(continued)

Basic Behavioral Guidelines for Sport(continued)

• Strive to bring out the best performance in one another. – Recognize and celebrate athletic excellence, your

own as well as your opponents'. – Seek opponents who are close to you in ability.

• Care about your opponent’s well-being as much as your own. – Your opponent is integral to the contest, and a victory

is fully meaningful when opponents are at their best.• Remember that how you play says as much

about you as an athlete as the scoreboard does.

Chapter 06 History of Physical Activity

6

History of Physical Activity

Richard A. Swanson

C H A P T E R

Why Study the History of Physical Activity?

The history of physical activity teaches us about changes as well as stability in the past, which helps us understand the past as well as the present and make reasonable decisions for the future.

What Does a Historian of Physical Activity Do?

• College or university faculty members– Teaching– Research– Service

• Others– Librarians– Consultants to publishing companies– Library archivists– Museum curators

Goals of History of Physical Activity

• Identify, describe, and analyze patterns of change and stability in physical activity in particular societies or cultures during specific periods.

History of the Subdiscipline

• Early beginnings: Late 19th century to 1960s• Identifying the subdiscipline: 1960s to 1970s• Expanding the subdiscipline: 1970s to

present– New analytical frameworks: modernization and

human agency– Greater focus on gender– New focus on exercise and health

Research Methods in History of Physical Activity

• Finding sources of evidence– Primary sources– Secondary sources

• Critiquing sources– Authenticity– Credibility

• Rule of context• Rule of perspective • Rule of omission or free editing

• Examining, analyzing, and synthesizing the evidence

History of Physical Activity in North America

• Critical time periods– 1840-1900: industrialization and westward

expansion – 1900-1950: consumerism, immigration, and

democratization – 1950-2007: electronic communication and

globalization

• Focus– Participation in physical activity– Physical activity professions– Scholarly knowledge about physical activity

Physical Activity in the United States1840–1900

Physical activity participation• Integration of body, mind, and soul• Recommendations:

– vigorous exercise for boys and men– moderate exercise for girls and women

• European gymnastics systems—German and Swedish• YMCA and YWCA• Immigrants and sports—clubs focused on their traditions, including sports• School and college physical activity• Intercollegiate sport—student control to university control• Women’s sports, Professional and amateur sports

(continued)

Physical activity professions• Early practitioners before the 1880s

Physicians, successful athletes, journalists, educators, ministers, health reform advocates, business entrepreneurs, and a handful of European gymnastics specialists who immigrated to the United States

(continued)

Physical Activity in the United States1840–1900 (continued)

Physical Activity in the United States1840–1900 (continued)

• Beginnings of the physical education teaching profession, late 19th century

– In 1885 the American Association for the Advancement of Physical Education formed. Today known as the American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance

– Teacher training programs

Physical Activity Professions1840-1900

The earliest identifiable American physical activity profession, teaching physical education, was established in the late 19th century during a period of high interest in physical activity among members of the general public.

• Science-based investigations and curriculums19th-century scientific discoveries in anatomy and

physiology, oxygen transport, energy transformation, and the nervous system

• Professional programs were very commonFocused on teaching physical activities and instilling

positive social values in students through participation in play and sport

Scholarly Knowledge About Physical Activity 1840–1900

Physical activity participation– Competitive sport for males– Competitive sport for females– Sport at the center of school and college physical

education curriculums– Military and World War I– Golden Age of Sport– The Great Depression– Military and World War II; All-American Girls

Professional Baseball League– Racial and ethnic relations

(continued)

Physical Activity in the United States1900–1950

Physical activity professions• Degree programs in physical education expand

– Undergraduate– Graduate– 1920s: first doctoral degree programs

• Coaches• Athletic trainers

– 1950 National Athletic Trainers’ Association

• Physical therapists– WWI reconstruction aides– 1920s American Women’s Physical Therapeutic Association (presently American

Physical Therapy Association)

(continued)

Participation in Physical Activity1900–1950 (continued)

• Rapid expansion in electronic mediaTelevision, computers, satellites, Internet

• Participation– Increase in health-related exercise through 2000,

followed by a decline in Americans meeting recommended activity levels

– Increase in sport participants and spectators– Girls and women in sport; Title IX (1972)– African Americans in sport– Growth of televised coverage of sport– Increase in outdoor recreation

Physical Activity in the United States1950–2012

Title IX: Educational Amendment of 1972

Section 1681. Sex

(a) Prohibition against discrimination: exceptions. No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance, except that . . .

• Discipline of kinesiology leads to an expansion in the number and variety of professions (growth beginning in 1960)

• Growth in the variety of professionally oriented college and university curriculums

• Growth of professional associations and certifications

Physical Activity Professions1950–2012

• Learn about the discipline’s past• Learn about societal influences on physical

activity• Learn about YOUR past• Consider what might happen in the future

Reasons to Study the History of Physical Activity